A Certain Scientific Bass Cannon (Railgun Fanfic Vol 1)
by LonelyDiggin
Summary: This is a fanfiction series around the universe of "A Certain Scientific Railgun/Toaru Kagaku No Railgun" (とある科学の超電磁砲.) In this story, you take the perspective of a fictional fourteen year old Esper with a power nicknamed "Bass Cannon," whose life collided with the Railgun universe due to discovering his powers, he somehow decided to come to Academy City and join the big group.
1. Unexpected

Stray bullets punched through holes in the widow. A battle was taking place. "I wasn't expecting it!" That's what I wanted to scream. As I ducked under the table, I thought about my inability to predict events like this. I am an Esper after all. What now, a fucking nuclear attack on the most technologically advanced place on the surface of the globe? Academy City, you gotta love it and hate it, I haven't decided on which. So far I prefer hope. That's how life is, not much different for an Esper teenager that faces the same mental struggles every day. Is this the definition of madness?

My worst fears included all Esper power related troubled. I moved in this city and just felt that I had to be "normal." One of my smaller fears included making enemies with people, just because I really cared about friends, I worry too much about how I was. First I learned I was an Esper, I was quite joyful. Until things went bad, you see, I had a little social life when I just started eighth grade, but it got better. The problem was, I still had trouble with it. I only had my ring of friends. In this city, where people were accepting, I feel better now. I guess small things like social stuff just gets compensated more as you grow, you still get experience. I maybe just have to be more open minded. Yes of course, I am an Esper after all, our brains are built for that.

I had this ocean of thoughts, maybe that's why I made the crazy decision to come here. I made friends, just normal friends. We don't treat each others differently just because we have powers-espers are just people with extra powers. We are not like mutants from X-men. I kept those crazy thoughts away. But I still feared my power attracting trouble. I'm not gonna pretend it hadn't happened before. I've heard about stories of experiments gone wrong, without even realizing they are doing the wrong thing. Well, being an Esper was not the greatest thing, but I'm stuck with myself, I still had to live. And I'm fond of it. In this more unique place, I feel better. I just assumed what happened today was just an accident.


	2. Level Upper Aftermath

"Damn it! I'm gonna be late!"

My alarm rang, I got out of bed, brushed my teeth, smoothened my hair and ate a piece of toast. I busted out of my apartment, raced to the bus stop at 50 miles per hour and arrived just in time. Just another daily routine, hop on a bus, and it gets you to a certain stop, my school. The classes wasn't that bad for me. If you ask me how I "survive" middle school like everyone else, I would tell you just like whatever everyone else will say. The term to survive is really a bit exaggerated. The teachers are great group of guys, and gals. I go to Nagatenjouki, one of the top five schools in this town and I'm in eighth grade. School days are fine, the classes are more centered around the superpowers and the science behind it, so just try and pay attention, you'd do great. Also, you might just want to get in a ring of friends, similar to a pack of wolfs. Seriously, you absolutely don't have to think too much, and that was my "Pro Tip."

Today is just gonna be an ordinary day like any other day. School always starts at 8 O'clock.

"Something's bothering me." A friend began. "I heard about some type of device that makes your power go up?"

"Level Upper?"

We continued to hang out around the school, some friends brought out a little snack.

"How's it going?" I said casually.

"Good!" He answered nervously.

"You seem nervous..."

"No! No, I'm fine, hehe. Actually, I'd better tell someone. I'm kind of worried about my friends lately. I don't know what to do. One of them, he collapsed and fainted, he is still in the hospital."

"Oh no, I'm sorry for him, there's lots of reasons why he fainted. You know what might have happened? You might.. okay. Well, I hope he gets well. Soon."

"Thanks" He said, nearly tearing up.

I went to my locker and put my stuff down, then went to my classroom. Our school is a normal concrete building. Rectangular structures joined together. A simple, comfy look and even nicer looking classrooms on the inside. Almost defined by large windows, it gives you a strange welcoming sensation. I travelled through the hallway to get to my class.

I was just in the middle of history class, the teacher was talking. I was just following my daily routine. Everything was great until we heard a huge rumble. There was an explosion, and what could only be described as the sound of a cannon firing. This was followed by gunshot sounds, firing rapidly. "Everybody get under the tables!" The teacher yelled, we all huddled under the table, three more explosion sounds were heard, the last one was the biggest. A flash bang-like effect blinded us for at least three seconds, a shock wave obliterated several window frames. My classmates shouted: "What the hell was that?"

"Was that a tactical nuke? We are fucked!" I was silently scared to my bones, I was shivering with fear, I thought I was dying. I went through every possibility that might've happened. Terrorist attack? That might not be possible because the city's technology is ten years more advanced, and it's main purpose is to study Espers. That's the scary part, you don't know what's happening in this type of scenario. As I said earlier, normal things don't always happen to normal people.

We lay there in silence, I heard crumbling sounds, like a concrete building getting demolished, even the decibels of sound matched up. More gunshots blasted out, followed by another explosion and a huge flash of light. Sounded almost like... like a battle! Then there came noises, thousands of people cursing, grumbling thinking about their misfortune. Sounded very miserable, everyone seemed to have heard. Those sounds weren't broadcasted, everyone seemed to have. heard it in their minds. I felt strange, the sounds in our heads were rendering us powerless. This was followed by one last explosion, 10 times more intense than the first few. The classroom windows shattered, the shockwave crushed the air right out of my lungs, and the heat singed my eyebrows. Everything went black, for 3 seconds.

Later that day, school was halted, we sat in the hallways as our teachers spoke with the police force of this city, Antiskill. A female Antiskill officer walked in, she has straight hair tied into a ponytail, and very tough and experienced looking. She was in full Antiskill uniform, her clothes bulged a little, it was a bulletproof vest under. Almost as if, she was covering something. Some edges looked a bit ripped, it was scorched. I liked her consideration, I assumed the reason she wasn't carrying a rifle and looking all badass was because this is a school. She doesn't want the kids to get scared. Another smaller, younger looking woman followed her, she had dark green, wavy hair and wearing a pair of glasses. They talked something with the principle about an energy field materializing, some energy like A-I-M? What the heck?

It suddenly occurred to me. AIM! An Involuntary Movement, the weak field of energy unintentionally released by Espers. You'd have to amplify an esper's power by so much in order to generate a field strong enough to be weaponized or go berserk. I didn't mean to eavesdrop, I'd rather stay out of this business, but I just can't help it, I seemed to have super hearing. Wait, hold on. Talking about message though AIM fields, those sounds in our heads, were those sent like radio waves through AIM diffusion fields? That was just my thoughts working up some theories. School was dismissed after the conversation. I went to buy my tickets back to my apartment, I tried to assure myself, this was just an experiment gone wrong, it's probably stopped, nothing dangerous will happen.

It was 16:00 when I got back. I stopped at the bottom of the building. A couple of good friends were hanging out, sitting on the benches. I greeted them: "Hi!" "Hello Johnny! Good afternoon!" I was too tired and thinking too much to join them, I went back to my apartment and slumped on my bed. I didn't even bother to grab my coffee or steep my favorite matcha. I fell asleep for 2 minutes, then woke up. The things that happened today haunted me. Nothing like this happened in two years since I moved in this place. Of course I had nothing to support my worries. However, because of my Esper power, I got into lots of troubles with local gangsters everywhere I went. I always won, but things kept on happening. You see, there are evil scientists. A small minority, but there are. A small amount of corrupt people inside the Board of Directors supports them, and hires wild, mercenary groups to help them. They conduct cruel, evil experiments for their own benefits, money, reputation, influence, most can't avoid law enforcement, but most doesn't mean all. Some even scarier types of these people don't even realize their experiments are wrong. There are also gangs that hates Espers, people like us because they feel like the minorities for not having powers. So they use violence, and weapons to intimidate Espers, without realizing they are never left out and not understanding how we can all just be well together. The crazy scientists backed up by corrupt government people are the scariest, because fighting them is like fighting about half the city.

It was a nice sunny Saturday, I finished my homework and decided to do something to clear my mind. I bought a newspaper to read, maybe that will give me some information for what happened last afternoon, so to completely eradicate out the last tiny bit of worries I have in my mind. The first story I spotted, under the weather forecast. A minor hate aggravated attack against the Judgement branch of Academy City. Suspect used graviton attack, the ability to increase the gravity in a certain area so sudden and back to normal again, causing violent explosions. This was weeks ago. Not very interesting. The next story caught me. In the headline it read: "Scientist Kiyama Harumi Arrested." It then said "Kiyama Harumi, a scientist studying in AIM diffusion fields, was a major culprit of the Level Upper Incident this month." What the... And I thought Level Upper was an urban legend! It was some kind of device that increases the level of your power allowing you to use that power in forms of higher levels.

I kept reading, turned out that the Level Upper is a "song" (MP3 file) that adulterated your brainwaves to make every Esper who had their brainwaves adulterated, collaborate. Their minds would be linked together via AIM diffusion field. You see, the Esper brains play an important role in using powers, it computes different things depending on the type of power. Lower level espers have weaker computing ability, picture using your powers like several apps running, and computing speed depends on the strength of the system/the chip. Level one espers are like Phones, and a level 5 espers are like fricking Alienware 18 computers. However, if you are linked with several minds together using AIM fields, you might be unintentionally "sharing" your powers, allowing one individual to have stronger computing speed, thus having more powerful powers on the level scale.

The story went on: "The 1000 people who were tricked into using the Level Upper suffered from temporary brain damage and passed out, their minds were linked with Kiyama herself. The AIM power inside of her was too strong and she lost control of it, materializing into a unclassified being named the AIM Burst." So that's what happened. Antiskill battled AIM Burst. The voices I remembered, were the darkest thoughts of the Level one Espers who used the Level Upper, they were sent out in AIM fields just as I predicted. I read on: "Misaka Mikoto , a student at Tokiwadai, also known as "Railgun" battled Burst. She eventually shot Burst and got it dissipated by damage through the core." I remembered that day when my friend told me someone, fainted? I think he woke up. I signed, relieved.

After reading and knowing what had happened, I felt greatly relieved. Nothing to worry about anymore! I decided to go out and take a walk. It was a nice sunny Saturday. I walked down the cafe I used to hang out, a couple of my good friends sat there.

"Heyyyy! How's it going?" I greeted them.

"Nice to see you here! Why don't you come and join us?" I sat down under a fancy steel structured table holding up an umbrella that shields up from the wrath of the summer heat and we started talking.

"Have you heard what had happened? It was in the newspaper!"

"And I thought the Level Upper was just a story made up to scare us! But this explained everything, I've been encountering robberies and I've heard that the people involved all had higher than expected level of abilities." We stopped discussing. The waiter came.

"Hi! I saw you just came in, I see you are with them. Would you like anything?"

"Yes, one bubble milk tea and one matcha ice cream please." My favorite food arrived very fast.

"so, you knew about the Level Upper too?" The waiter asked hurriedly. His face turned red "Oh I'm sorry! I don't mean to be nosy! I was just... talkative..." I suddenly wanted to confirm. I decided to continue the conversation.

"Um... hi excuse me, so you knew about it too?"

"Yes, I actually used to the same people come here. They always sat at the same spot, five high school guys and one older girl. Once a middle school aged girl with light orange hair talked to them, asking something about that. They took her out suspiciously away, I just wanted to make sure the girl is safe you know, I've heard about people getting hurt over the Level Upper, I'm not sure how. But I heard that the scientist who distributed it was caught. Her name was, something like, Kiyama?" "Okay, thank you so much!" We finished our snacks in silence.

It was 2 in the after afternoon, one friend had gone home, and another girl from our class joined us. We told her about the group that came in, suspecting they had something to do with the incident. She told us something reluctantly.

"You know, one day I was walking through a park, and I saw a bunch of girls using the device, uh Level Upper. They had an IPod and was making leaves float. I was certain it was that device, because, one girl suddenly collapsed, just as the news said! Umm, it's time for me to go to my friends party now.

"You think you might know how it works?" I asked.

"I think it had something to do with brainwaves, like computers. I have to leave, have a great day! Bye!" She left quickly.

The news matched up just as she described.

It was 2 in the after afternoon, one friend had gone home, and another girl from our class joined us. We told her about the group that came in, suspecting they had something to do with the incident. She told us something reluctantly.

"You know, one day I was walking through a park, and I saw a bunch of girls using the device, uh Level Upper. They had an IPod and was making leaves float. I was certain it was that device, because, one girl suddenly collapsed, just as the news said!" She checked her watch.

"Umm, it's time for me to go to my friends party now."

"You think you might know how it works?" I asked.

"I think it had something to do with brainwaves, like computers. I have to leave, have a great day! Bye!" She left quickly.

The news matched up just as she described.


	3. Meeting Railgun

Chapter two: Meeting Railgun

"Well, I guess I have to go now. See you tomorrow!" I left. It was a nice sunny afternoon. Actually, a little too sunny and moist. I was sweating like crazy and decided to go get a drink from a vending machine. I sat in a park and saw a vending machine, but a girl was already there. She kicked the vending machine violently, her moves neat like she done it many times. She striked out neat, fast, and accurate packing just the right force. Her legs lashed out like a whip at 45 degrees, borrowing kinetic energy from twisting her waist. The vending machine rattled and 2 cans of random drink fell out. One green can was iced sweet matcha, I recognized it because it was my favorite drink!

"Hey, umm, you know that's stealing right?" I don't know what the HELL I was doing right now. Why did I suddenly talk, was I being a nosy jerk? I know stealing is wrong, but it definitely wasn't my business. It got so awkward I suddenly wanted to collapse on the tarmac and overheat myself to death, but I doubt it would work as the embarrassment gave me chills. What the heck Johnny? My nosiness made me sick, or perhaps, it was because I wanted find a chance, any chance, just to talk to the girl? Awkward, awkward, awkward. I mentally cursed.

"What do you know?" The girl defended herself. Her face was red, I looked closer and saw her short, light orange hair. I secretly thought she was cute and kinda hot. But I definitely wouldn't tell her that, at least not as a stranger.

"This stupid machine, right here, stole 10000 Yen from me!" By the way that's about 90 dollars in US money.

"Oh no! I mean... that's unfortunate. I feel sorry for you. Hehehe..." I was so embarrassed I might freeze into a statue in the summer heat.

"Ummm. Sorry for being nosy"

"Oh that's fine, I get that every time, it's... fine. How old are you?" She started chatting to me!

"Fourteen" I said the default response. "My name is Jonathan, but you can call me John/Johnny or any nickname." I was too rushed to introduce myself. Be cool, just be cool, easy does it.

"That's a cute nickname." She stated "Uh, thanks!" Did she just used the word "cute?" Oh right, the word cute can be used to describe everything, action, people, food, clothing, or even names, I still wasn't expecting the cute comment though

.

"I'm fourteen too. My name is Misaka Mikoto, nice to meet you!"

"Railgun?" I blurted out and immediately wanted to hit myself with a baseball bat.

"So you heard about me. You probably has those super hero stereotypes right?" She smiled and continued:

" I help people, but I'm not always that super hero type person you know. I have to watch out for my friends, who always seemed to get in trouble, being in judgement. I want to protect people, and I definitely don't like some things going on here lately, but most of the time, I'm just an ordinary middle school girl." She smiled. Ordinary? Middle school! Sounds just like someone!

She sounds much more friendly than I imagined. Yes, generally every Esper here has normal lives regardless of identity, but I just can't make the automatic connection of super powered human with 100% human traits or even exceeding in it.

"Hoy, Biribiri!" Shouted a guy. Misaka's expression immediately got cold.

"What are you doing here, idiot Touma?"

"Oh what's wrong with you? You are always so angry. Why do you have to treat me like that, can't I just happen to be walking past?" Said the guy.

I asked Misaka: "You know him?"

"No! I definitely don't know some idiot like him!" She was...wait, does she like him? What's that called again? Being cold to someone you like, it's, tsun... tsundere!

"I have to go now, see you around." Said the guy who's name I assumed was Touma. He looked around high school age, with spiked black hair, wearing a simple white school uniform.

"Don't act like as if we are friends!" Misaka said as he walked away.

I asked Misaka: "So, you know about the Level Upper?"

"Y-Yes, the device is a song, it connects the brainwave of Espers together using AIM field, it went out of control and turned into a monster thing, composed of the worst different thoughts of people." She shuttered as if not expecting me to ask.

"Have you encountered users? Sorry, I'm just curious. You don't have to tell me at all."

"Yes, some people attempted to fight back the city's law enforcement, but they failed . Any changes to the brainwave pattern made them faint. One, of my best friend did, but now she's okay. It's... kinda my fault." She acted as if she didn't want to share something, but decided to share since she gave it away.

"Have you ever felt like you can't understand your friends?" She asked.

"Maybe, but I will still try to."

"I've been stuck in my old mindset for so long now, I thought you should play fair. I used to despise people who didn't play fair, gained power using dirty ways, as I think they never considered other lower level Espers. I was mad at myself for thinking that way, now I think I am the one who wasn't considerate. I never thought of their feelings, I never experienced how they felt. So now lower or higher, it doesn't matter anymore. They are my friends, they are just as good as who they are. I will never be that ignorant... again. I will protect them. After all, that is the reason their worst thoughts created this monster." Misaka looked very sorry, which made me feel sorry for her. I stopped asking. She looked away, she might have it on her mind for a long time and is willing to tell it to just a guy she randomly chats to. Well, I asked.

"You didn't have to tell me you know."

"No it's fine. I gotta go, bye!"

"Goodbye!" I said. She turned and left. Before she went out of hearing range, I said one last thing just hoping to make her feel better, being a little bit of the nosy person I am. After all, we still talked. "Hey!" I called after her.

"I'm sure your friends will understand you, that's what friends are supposed to do for each other. You did by great understanding them too, they are lucky to have you as a friend." She smiled and nodded in relief. This was one of the few times I actually felt quite content with a conversation.


	4. Robin Hood?

Chapter Three: Robin Hood?

I was walking home, it was nearly 5 PM in the afternoon. I decided to take a shortcut through a rural forest trail due to my home being in the slightly more inner parts of Academy City. I walked through a small trail on the rural outside, and stopped at a convenience store. Me and Misaka's conversation had distracted me that much, that I forgot to buy my drink. I bought the drink I wanted, iced sweet matcha. The weather finally started to get cool. I felt more comfortable walking through the more rural parts. After a while of navigating, I'm back to the urban parts of A.C. A neighborhood of broken cinderblock buildings stood in front of me. Some buildings looked habitable, others not so much. Gangster looking guys in their twenties stood in front of the buildings, some were drunk and leaning against the walls. One guy who was wearing jeans with a plain t-shirt had a tattoo on his arm depicting a spider crawling on it's web. I walked past them without looking at their eyes, ignoring them. I don't want any trouble or anything to ruin the rest of my leisure Saturday afternoon. They all looked at me like I am a celebrity. No, they looked at me like a predator ready to pounce. One of them sick of the silence, spoke up: "Well, this goes without saying. You are in our turf now, we outnumber you and outgun you. You know what to do." He squeezed his thumb and index finger, making the money gesture. Others smiled and joined in. "You know what to do! We're all sick of saying it."

I still ignored them until one guy tried to pull me down and reach into my pocket. I hit his chest with my elbow. He groaned and threw a punch. I dodged it, but he reached into his pocket and pulled out a switchblade. Oh boy. "Weapons!" He yelled, his other gang members joined in and picked up whatever they could find. Steel bars, baseball bats.

"Don't say I'm not being fair, you punched me first. You put out the fire you started!" He snarled.

"Yeah, says the guy who tried to rob a kid." I reminded him.

He charged in first, I can see the shine of the sides on the well oiled knife. He tried to stab me, I slipped away and grabbed his arm wielding the knife. I put it behind his back and twisted it. He screamed in pain.

"I could have broken it! Still want to fight me?" I yelled.

I am seriously tired of this bull, every time when my powers got me into trouble, it's either huge, or really minor. Sometimes it scared the crap out of me, sometimes not at all. This time I decided it's my fault for wandering though their place. Oops.

Mustering his strength and courage, he yelled:

"Idiots! There's more of us!"

I kicked his leg, he got crippled for a while and fell on the ground. I knocked him out by a strike on his head. Being an Esper is tough, but did I mention there's certain perks? For example like having natural combat skills by having a better functioning brain. Three guys charged at me, again I side slipped and punched his rib cage before he could bludgeon me. Instantly he is out of the game. I instinctively dodged, as a silver blur cut through the air where my shoulder used to be. There's some guys who are bad fighters, and some guys who are good fighters. It really varies, This katana wielding thug? If he wasn't a thug, he might as well be a samurai.

"Ha! Slice and dice!" He yelled with the maniac laugh. I had to use my Esper power. I pushed him back with a strong wind, he hit his back on a wall, then his head on the wall and passed out. I surrounded myself with my own miniature version of Katrina. Realizing I am a level four, those thugs decided better and left. I stood there for a while, staring at the empty buildings and wondered what the government official is going to do with this place. They are not doing anything,I noticed, as there weren't any means of repairing buildings with paint flaking off like snake skin, or the walls cracking like eggs.

"Jeez!" I spat in annoyance and walked away. Standing on a roof top of one of those buildings, another guy stood there. He was drinking from a cardboard carton, probably milk. He had wavy red hair, very muscular, and wearing a leather jacket. He put down his drink, smiled warmly and winked at me, then turned away. Man, what a day. I continued my way home. I suppose these are just small time thugs who robbed everyone that got into their place, or "hood" as they call it. I remember when I was thirteen, being the rebel I was, I was fascinated by gangsters they same way a kid is fascinated by pirates. I always favoured gangsters who don't murder everyone, only their enemies, and have a little of the Robin Hood trait. I continued walking when someone called behind me.

"What happened here?" It was Judgement, the smaller security branch working alongside Anti Skill, the main police force of A.C. I can recognize their green badges on their sleeves. Three girls stood there. One is in Tokiwadai uniform, she looked about 13 with pink, twin tornado hair. The other two girls are in other school uniforms. One is shorter, about he same age she has short black hair with a wreath of flowers on it. The other is taller, she looked around 15-16 and has longer, straighter black hair with a pair of glasses.

"I was just walking home, ran into these thugs. They tried to rob me. I had to defend myself." I said, trying to be helpful and not look like as if I'm the trouble.

"Yes, be careful, don't walk on their turf. I dealt with them before, I can tell they are thugs." Said the taller girl with glasses.

"I also saw a guy with red hair on the roof over behind..."

"You mean me?" Said the guy with the red hair. He was standing behind us the whole time, still drinking from the milk carton. "Ah, when it comes to milk, it gotta be Musashino Milk! Nice to see you again, Mii. I never thought I'm gonna make it out of the hospital, you've changed a lot, so I see now you work in Judgement eh?" He addressed the taller girl. "And you kid, nice job dealing with them." He said to me.

"You know her?" Me and the other two girls asked.

"Yeah, she used to be with me in the same group, before she went to judgement."

"Stop talking! Shut up! Why did you not talk to me? You knew I was worried!" Mii almost screamed.

"Now now, since you are in judgement, you know it's best to stay silent with me. My gang's ideals had changed, it turned into a ruthless group that harassed innocents. I am planning to end it for good." He said.


	5. Downfall

"You used to be in the gang?" I was surprised.  
"Yes, back then this gang was supposed to help people. This gang's name is called Big Spider. We and another gang all formed a huge group named Skill Out. We are consisted of level 0s. We fight for equality of low level Espers. We want people to understand, level is just a number. Doesn't matter, everybody can live together, we want level 0s to be accepted."  
"Your goal has already been achieved isn't it? Right now everyone in A.C. accepts each other regardless of being an Esper or not. We are all unique, no one can judge each other as a whole solely based on level of power! We all have places we are awesome and places we can work on, but that doesn't mean someone is a bad person, that's what makes us... ourselves. Because you can't be perfect at everything! What I'm saying is: you don't have to be an Esper to be happy. How can you compete?" I argued about it. He looked at me, I continued:  
"I don't see how I suddenly have level 4 power. Life was rough because of it. I frequently got into trouble. Doesn't mean I am bad, that's just, me. I still had friends, you know. I never felt privileged being a level 4. No one is, it... doesn't matter." I argued, rethinking what Misaka had said  
and also he added.

"True. I have to agree, but not everyone back in my time know that. And there were always people who used power to hurt others." He sighed.  
"Many of my former members were accepted here, they had their own personality just like you. Well, only the stories of "good guys" were actually told. Now they formed a crime group that just turned against Espers. You see kid, I'm not just any member of the group. I am the founder, Kurozuma Wataru." He turned away.  
"Hold on, you just gonna leave?" He took off his sporty leather jacket, revealing the giant spider tattoo on his back.  
"Where's Mii? Jeez, why did she just leave?" Said the girl with the twin tornado hair. "Anyways, just be careful around here. Best if you stay away." The other two girls left.

Two months ago I discovered that the reason I had super hearing was because my power enabled it. You see, having a power extends to a lot of things. Say if you are an Electromaster, besides using electric shocks you can also manipulate electromagnetic waves and fields. My power of manipulating gas particles, a variant of Aero Hand gave me good hearing. I can hear conversations far away as long as it is passed on by vibration through gases like the most commonly found mixture: air, and there are minimum noises in the environment. This district is very silent. I could hear the two girls walking as they are calling for Mii. I know she's on a rooftop with Kurozuma, Misaka was there too.  
"You can't let them get away! You are in Judgement aren't you?" Said Misaka.  
"I knew you would be here. That's where we last met." Said Kurozuma gently from behind them. "You are warning me about the raid tomorrow right? He sighed.  
"I couldn't leave Hebitani you know? From the last time I charged into the trap that almost killed me I was only released from hospital six months ago, I never thought I could see this view again. As I said, it's best if I don't see you again. I'm the one to disband the group, not Anti Skill. Now, get going, look at that girl just standing their lonely."  
"Don't go, Senpai! You are charging in alone, aren't you?" Mii shouted, almost crying. "You always care about others, but don't care for yourself."  
"You are like that too, aren't you? After all, that was the reason you want to warn me."  
I decided to stop eavesdropping and finally took the bus home because it was too late. Man, it sure was a long day. I was so relieved to see the familiar concrete apartment building again. It was a short and simple building, decent wifi, heating systems and electricity. Cramped balconies stood out and rows of windows lined up perfectly. Trust me, it looks okay outside but it looks much comfier inside. A couple of my friends lives here. My friends weren't down there chatting and hanging out right now so I went back to my home. I showered, climbed onto my familiar bed threw on my familiar blanket. I made a crazy decision later that night, I decided to go along.

Why did I choose to join? I don't know exactly. Maybe I just feel bad because I am that type of people too, an Esper. It's really those people's fault to discriminate against people like us. Defending the rights of low level Espers is not the excuse. Because we never hated on anyone. Or maybe, I'm doing it for Misaka! Why would I do it just for her? Was I crazy? Or maybe... there's a little bit of all factors.  
Dawn broke, purplish red colors cracked open the night sky. I sat on the balcony reviewing my decision. I am doing it. I walked to the same district where I expected them to show up. It's very bright now, almost morning. There's Mii, wearing a red leather jacket, standing there with a worried look on her face. Just as I was still deciding, to go to her or not, Misaka and Ms... Twin Tornado showed up. Misaka winked and pressed the green, distinguishable badge of Judgement on Mii's chest. "Looks better now! Hey, I know now, you became Judgement after you thought Kurozuma died in that fire. You want to remain loyal to Kurozuma's men while also being in Judgement, it's hard." Mii smiled. I decided to step in, it's now, or never, they are leaving.

"Let me join too, please." I said, showing up.  
"Oh, hi! It's you." Said Misaka. "You are an okay fighter, being an Esper. It's dangerous though. Why do you want to volunteer?"  
I just, I wanted to... you know... Umm... I thought we all accept each other in Academy City, I never knew there are people who still discriminates, that's basically why. Also, yeah, I'm an Esper too. So I feel bad for them." Misaka and Mii smiled in understanding. "Th... Thank you!" I added.  
"By the way, this is my friend Konori Mii. You probably heard Kurozuma address her as Mii." Introduced Misaka "This is my roommate... and... friend, Shirai Kuroko" She pointed to Twin Tornado.  
"Oneesama! How could you... you know him?" Asked Kuroko, stuttering in anger and jealousy for  
...unknown reasons.  
"Uhmm, we just happened to meet up you know, we chatted a little." Misaka quickly explained as if afraid Kuroko might explode.  
"It's time to go!" Announced Mii.  
Maybe I joined because I strongly dislike people who discriminated. I'm not trying to be an all perfect, justice model, it's just basic, common sense, like discriminating against people like me solely based on we have Esper powers? Nothing personal I can feel, but I belong to the group they hates and harasses. I remember months ago, last Summer when the rep from here came to the US to greet me. That was when I learnt how people treated treated each other. Turns out there are people who are just not like that. I knew there is gonna be issues like this in here. I just didn't expect it to be this bad. As I said, I really fear Esper related incidents, was I going to face my fear and get over it? They just don't understand. Why hate us? I used to blamed myself because I had Esper powers and attracted trouble. However, now I knew it was never my problem.

We arrived at the Big Spider home turf, the infamous district of the place and headed straight for HQ. Someone familiar was already there. I could tell because the guy who I assumed was the guard lay in front of the entrance knocked out. Kurozuma took on five armed guys at once, he fought them with punches and kicks. He always managed to disarm them, kicking off whatever they carried steel bar, baseball bat or knife.  
"Jeez!" He said in distaste. "When you fight, you gotta put your heart into it!"  
Their leader shouted: "You might be a good fighter, but you never bring a knife to a gunfight!" His remaining henchmen picked out pistols. I grew nervous, seeing guns being used.  
"Action time!" Shouted Mii. "What's your name, kid?"  
"Jonathan. Call me Johnny or John, and I'm 14, just slightly younger." I answered.  
"Okay fine. Johnny, we have this planned out already. There's not much you can do, sorry. You can keep watch on the outside okay?"  
Misaka added: "Also, try to search for a device, it's speaker that sends out sound waves to disorient the Esper brain. We fought them last time, and would have lost if Kurozuma hadn't turn it off. It's probably around the building to be in range." I nodded.  
I have act fast, I can hear a little that Anti Skill already started cleaning out small packets of their men on the outer part of the district. The trio went into the warehouse to help. I stood on the outside.

I can hear about four or five vans coming in, along with yelling. They don't sound like Anti Skill at all, they are reinforcements. I stood by the entrance. Five black SUVs pulled over. About 20 gangsters stepped out.  
"The hell you doing here? You're not one of us!" One of them yelled.  
"You guys are not stepping in." I said calmly.  
They attacked without hesitation. These guys are good. I managed to disarm five. I dodged, side-stepped, threw punches, did the 45 degree kicks. One knife grazed across my arm, I ignored the pain. I grabbed his arm, ducked under, stepped behind him and twisted it, his knife fell out. I struck him unconscious. A steel bar hit my shoulder, pain exploded. I dodged another swing aimed at my head, and punched him in the Adam's Apple. Another guy tried to bludgeon me, I lashed out my legs like a whip, imitating Misaka's kick. His hand blocked my kick. I kicked the other way, it only connected with his steel bar. He threw a punch, I dodged, slid under it and went behind him. I struck him unconscious. I grabbed the unconscious guy and threw him towards his friends who caught him. These guys were good. Again, I surrounded myself with a small hurricane and knocked them all back on their butts. Four more guys were knocked out by the force.  
"Enough of this bull!" They took out 8 AK 47s from their trunks and started firing. The bullet hailstorm came flying straight over. I dodged behind a pillar, barely avoiding it. The pillar was enough to protect me from the bullets, but they left huge holes and gashes on it. Concrete chunks exploded, dusts almost going in my eyes. I blindly used my powers, I conjured up a strong wind affecting the vectors of the bullets. They stood their grounds, ready to kill.  
"Force him out!" Someone threw a bottle, it was a Molotov cocktail! A bottled concoction of flammable substances flew straight at my pillar, it exploded. A fireball expanded as the pillar was on fire. I didn't blow it away, my vision was obstructed. Luckily, the thick pillar blocked most of the fire, but the heat made me uncomfortable. The substance inside stuck to the pillar and burned, there's magnesium mixed inside as it gave off intense light and heat. My powers regained a little. I repelled the smoke using wind. It smelled like burning gasoline and tar.

That's it! The heat should help create a wind. This time I only gave out half my strength. I conjured up a stronger hurricane, the heat from the fire caused the air to flow faster, making it easier. My hurricane got even faster, sucking up sand and rocks. It rolled across to them, they all ducked out of the way. Their SUV windows exploded outwards due to the intense pressure difference caused by my storm. Then the whole SUV got picked up and rose little by little. It was too heavy, it got picked up and dropped back, upside down. It's fuel tank was punctured, the remaining Molotov cocktail bottles in it's trunk cracked open with a loud "clank!" and started a fire. The gangsters were too shocked to fight. I went out of cover and saw the storm sucking up fire, turning into a firestorm.  
All five cars were on fire, flame curled from the windows, trunks, eventually engulfing the vehicles. Columns of thick black smoke rose into the sky. They still shot at me, but now my storm was so strong that the bullet's' path started to almost bended at forty five degree angles. Eventually my storm picked up the bullets and I willed it to puncture their gas tanks. All of them were out of bullets, and their ammo pack left in the car was completely destroyed. The cars got set on fire so quick they didn't even get a chance to use their device to disorientate me. I don't want to fight anymore, I made sure there were no reinforcements coming, and went back into the building. I was there in time to see Kurozuma punching the leader unconscious, but he had a knife wound on his right cheek too. Everyone stood there silent. Kurozuma spoke.  
"Why are you like this now?" He asked sadly.  
"We had no choice, this was the only turf for us." The leader croaked.  
"Anyone could join us, this was supposed to be the place where you can be yourself." I stood there silently too, as a familiar siren rose louder and louder.

Anti Skill finally arrived, in their usual long, dark SUVs and huge operating trucks. About 15 men armed with taser guns, and ballistic shields walked out uniformly. They arrested the members who fought us, including the leader, who I later learned that his name is Hebitani. I sat there, tired but relieved. Mii came over to me.  
"Are you okay, kid?" Asked Mii. "Were you hurt?"  
"No I'm fine, thanks!" I blushed. She smiled. I was grateful they let me join and accepted me.  
"It's great working along side you." Added Misaka.  
"Um well..." I stuttered "Can I... be with you guys? I just like it, I feel comfortable with you guys." Everyone laughed. I blushed harder and cringed at this childish quetison. No, I have to be confident.  
"Of course! What are you saying?" Misaka smiled.  
Kurozuma came, he looked at Mii and nodded. Mii seemed reluctant to do it, but she cuffed him.  
"Kurozuma Wataru, you are under arrest under suspicion of assault." She said formally.  
"You never betrayed Big Spider, you know?" I said to Mii.  
"They used to be a nice, kind of like Robin Hood group, until their ideals and ways changed, making them reckless criminals." I explained. "As long as Kurozuma is here, the original Big Spider is alive and till exists, that's the real gang."  
Mii and Kurozuma nodded in understanding, Mii in particular looked also grateful and relieved.  
"Your leather jacket is looking tight around your busts, you know?" Stated Kurozuma.  
Mii wasn't offended, she said: "It's all from drinking that!" Kurozuma suddenly understood.  
"When it comes to milk, it gotta be Musashino Milk!" They said it, perfectly synchronized, and laughed. We all smiled. Looks like the decision to come wasn't a bad decision. At least to me, it wasn't so far.


End file.
